All year long, Kevin Broadus has preached playing for all 40 minutes.
In the quarterfinals of the America East Tournament on Saturday afternoon against Vermont, his Bearcats fell five minutes short.
“Today for 35 minutes, I thought these guys were the better players,” Broadus said. “The last five, the champions came out of those guys from Vermont.”
The fifth-seeded and host Binghamton University Bearcats were defeated, 65-57, by the fourth-seeded Vermont Catamounts in front of a crowd of 5,016 at the Events Center.
The Bearcats were in control for much of the game, up by 11 points with 16:38 to go. But Vermont slowly cut the lead down, and after both teams exchanged baskets for a few minutes, the game was tied at 49 with five minutes to go.
After Marqus Blakely made two free throws to give the Catamounts a 51-49 lead, their first since 9-8, Kyle Cieplicki hit a pull-up 3-pointer from the left wing in transition to put Vermont up five.
The Bearcats fought back by making four straight free throws, two by Dwayne Jackson and two by Mike Gordon, to cut the lead to one. But Blakely put his team back up by three, thanks to a layup in the paint. Binghamton had two chances to cut the lead again or even tie the game, but Gordon missed a jump shot and then Lazar Trifunovic missed a second opportunity after the Bearcats grabbed the offensive rebound.
With 1:49 to go and down three, the Bearcats needed a stop.
Mike Trimboli ran a pick and roll with Blakely, and as Blakely drove to the basket and Binghamton defenders closed in, Blakely dished off a beautiful pass to Evan Fjeld for the layup.
After two Gordon free throws to cut the lead to three with 1:16 to go, the Bearcats again needed a stop and they almost had it.
As the shot clock was winding down and Trimboli was scrambling with the ball, he drove into the lane and banked-in an off-balance shot to put Vermont up 60-55 with 49 seconds left.
“Going to the basket, I knew I wanted to use the glass and happened to make it,” said Trimboli, who finished with 13 points on for 4-for-11 shooting including playing the last 11 minutes of the game with four fouls.
In a must-score situation for the Bearcats, Gordon drove the lane but Blakely took a charge in the paint and after Trimboli made two free throws on the other end, Binghamton’s fate was sealed.
“We were defending as hard as we could, we left it out there and they were just the better team today,” Broadus said. “That’s what champions do, they come back, and they fight back and win basketball games.”
Aiding them to victory, Vermont shot 56 percent in the second half after shooting just 32 percent on 8-for-25 shooting in the first half. But not only were the Catamounts making shots, they were stopping Binghamton from doing the same.
Binghamton made just one field goal in those final five minutes of the game. And after shooting 41 percent in the first half, including 3-for-6 from 3-point range, the Bearcats shot 26 percent (8-for-31), including 1-for-7 from behind the arc in the second half.
“They key to the game was our defense,” said Vermont head coach Mike Lonergen. “I always stress we can always win our defense.”
With the exception of Gordon’s game-high 23 points, the Catamount defense effectively shut down Binghamton’s other offensive options. Trifunovic managed just 10 points, six in the first half, on 5-for-18 from the field. Jackson scored eight points, six from the free-throw line, and the team’s third-highest scorer was Jaan Montgomery, who played a career-high 20 minutes while contributing career-highs of six points and seven rebounds.
Montgomery, along with Giovanni Olomo, held Blakely off the glass for most of the game and did a good job being physical with him down low. Blakely finished with 18 points including eight points from the free-throw line.
“I told [Montgomery] if he takes this off-season seriously, we don’t need another big man,” Broadus said. “Jaan can be good and many people may disagree, but I firmly believe if he works as hard as he can, he can be as good as any big man in this league.”
But in the end, Vermont got timely baskets and the Bearcats were unable to deliver the final punch. Binghamton was five minutes away from playing another day.
“We played hard for the first 35 minutes but in the last five minutes, we got in a little drought and they took advantage of it,” Gordon said.
Gordon did what he can to lead his team to victory in his final collegiate game, but just didn’t have enough help which may have been related to the nagging injuries the Bearcats were dealing with.
While Trifunovic had been battling back spasms throughout the week and Chretien Lukusa a bad hip, one of Binghamton’s most explosive offensive threats, Richie Forbes, only played 15 minutes finishing with just two points.
“He was physically hurt,” Broadus said. “The last month of the season, we were one of the most beat-up teams in the league. Richie gave what he could for 15 minutes and I wish it would have ended better for him.”
While the three seniors, Gordon, Forbes and Olomo, will move on, so too will Broadus and the Bearcats.
“I’m sad the season ended this way,” Broadus said. “Today closes one chapter in the book, tomorrow opens another.”